Amsbaugh makes mark for Braves hockey

March 13, 2020

Although the 2019-2020 hockey season ended last month for the Bottineau-Rugby Braves, the team left a mark in high school sports history, thanks to team forward Ian Amsbaugh.

Amsbaugh had been state scoring leader for most of the season, keeping the Braves' name among state champions from Grand Forks and Bismarck.

Sometimes, Amsbaugh's goal total stood ahead of the next top scorer by more than 10 points. At the end of the season, Amsbaugh's total of 65 goals remained on top, with Fargo South-Shanley's Drew Sandy in second place with 63 goals.

Amsbaugh told the Tribune his teammates kept tabs on his stats during the season. "All the guys on the team always liked to give me a notice (about the top spot among scoring leaders), so it's nice," he said.

"I was both happy and surprised," Amsbaugh said of his finish at the top of the state scorer list. "Obviously, it's really cool to be on the top of the list for all of North Dakota and I was really excited that my hard work really paid off."

"I'll be returning next year," he said of his place on the team.

Amsbaugh said he enjoyed playing with Rugby co-op teammates and described the team's chemistry as "great."

"I loved it. It was probably my most fun year of all. All the guys got along really well together and we really meshed like we had been playing for 20 years, it seemed like," Amsbaugh said.

"Hopefully, I can stay back up there (in scoring stats)," Amsbaugh added. "We've got a lot of young guys coming up and hopefully a lot of the guys that are on our team right now will progress so we can make it to the state tournament next year."